Development of Artificial Substitutes for Upper Digestive Tract: Personal Experience of Trials and Errors / 대한이비인후과학회지

ABSTRACT

The current treatments for esophageal diseases, such as carcinomas, trauma or congenital malformations, require surgical intervention, and esophageal reconstruction using redundant parts of the gastrointestinal tract. However, the use of gastrointestinal segments can cause various surgical morbidities and mortality because additional abdominal surgery may be required at the expense of other anatomic structures. Therefore, tissue engineering using various biomaterial or cell sources has emerged as an alternative strategy of biomimicking the native esophageal tissue that could be implanted as an artificial graft. Although tissue engineering techniques have promise as an effective regenerative strategy, no functional solution currently exists for esophageal reconstruction. Here, we present a review of the progress made in the field of regenerative medicine for esophageal reconstruction based on the personal experience.